How Did People Keep Their Toenails Trimmed before Clippers Were Invented?

[Shagnasty]

The title should be self-explanatory but I wonder what people did with their toenails before proper clippers were available. You can bite your fingernails but biting your toenails is literally beyond the reach of most people (although I did it once). There must be many cultures around that have to deal with this issue.

How do they do it?

[lemac]

I just pull off pieces with my fingernails...

[JKilez]

I just pull off pieces with my fingernails...
<shudder> Yuck.

[J Cubed]

My dad uses a box cutter on his toenails. So, if you have the technology to make a straight razor, you can trim your nails. And if you don't wear shoes, I bet your toenails don't get too long.

[yabob]

Well I don't use any tools either. So there. It's easy enough to get it started with a thumbnail, and then peel it off.

[Chimera]

Grind them down with a stone, similar to filing them down, which would have come into vogue with the invention of files.

[handsomeharry]

Scissors.

[fisha]

Chew them off. If you can't reach your own feet, have your friend chew them off.

[robcaro]

We used scissors.

[panache45]

. . . biting your toenails is literally beyond the reach of most people.

That what slaves were for.

[Gbro]

I would think they were worn down and or broken in most cases.
An old friend used a jack knife on all his nails. Of course he was an exceptionally limber old gent, he could sit in a chair with his legs folded under him at 80 years old.

[SSG Schwartz]

Pluck at it with your fingers and then peel it off. Then you take the removed portions and use them for a toothpick.

SSG Schwartz

[Fear Itself]

Grind them down with a stone, similar to filing them down, which would have come into vogue with the invention of files.I thought I would be the only one to post about my toenail stone.

[Nava]

You use clippers? All I've ever used is scissors. My favorites aren't even the little curved "nail scissors," I like sewing scissors for both finger and toenails.

Now if you're asking about before the lever was invented, you may want to ask at the zoo.

[pulykamell]

I've almost never used toenail clippers in my life. I generally would just peel them off with my fingers. When I was a kid, it was with my teeth. Some of my girlfriends didn't like this, so they would do it for me, properly with clippers. But, more usually, just fingers.

[Toxylon]

I've never used a clipper or scissors to trim my toenails. When they get too long (it takes a good while), I simply peel the extra off. Never thought it would be an issue to not have clippers.

[Ponderoid]

It's much easier to peel them after you've soaked them in the bath for a while.

[DanBlather]

I had a foot massage in China that included having my toenails trimmed by a guy with a scary looking knife that was a little like a smaller version of the curved Eskimo knife. I assume that was an lod way of doing it.

[panache45]

I once had to go to a podiatrist for something. In addition to treating the immediate problem he also trimmed my nails, along with a monologue about how people cannot trim their own nails short enough. He actually trimmed them so short that they hurt for several days, and two of them actually bled a little.

Now that I'm getting older, it's becoming increasingly difficult to trim my own nails, but I still manage. I'd rather let them get a foot long than go back to that guy.

[Hari Seldon]

My son used to bite his. When I was growing up, we used cuticle scissors. Now my nails are thick and gnarly and I go to a podiatric nurse every couple months. Since I was diagnosed with diabetes I was advised never to trim my own nails. I still do it, though, after I have been in the ocean for a half hour or more.

Once I saw an small ant make off with a large clipping, but that's another story.